any sales engineers or technical sales people out there?

[ceyoung]

I have a degree in chemical engineering/materials science and i dont really feel like working in an oil refinery or a factory. So, I was looking into engineering sales...anyone have any good advice/experiences?

[BruinEric]

Okay, here is a brief two cents. I formerly (for 12+ years) worked in an industry selling software to companies designing electronics such as semiconductors and circuit boards. The industry is different than yours but there are surely some parallels.

My degree is not technical, so I entered through the pure sales angle. I grew very technical in my field, and this was helpful.

Your best entry is to target companies where you believe your experience would help and seek out entry level "Sales Engineer" or "Post-Sales Engineer" or "Implementation Consultant" jobs.

In general this is a job where you will support the pre-sales effort (in my industry it was with demonstrations and benchmarks) or the post-sales effort (in my industry it was training and implementation).

Really big companies may have entry-level jobs that fit the bill for you. Small companies and distributors/resellers are perfect places to start as well. Mid-size, highly popular companies may not because they have the most talented from the 'other companies' who want to work there.

Compensation for engineers who assist the sales process is often higher than the engineers in R&D.

The most vital skill is to learn how to take a prospect's question and answer it truthfully BUT in a way that best suits your product/service. If the question directly hits a weakness of your product, you'll have to deflect the question skillfully.

Example:
"I've heard your GUI is very difficult to learn and navigate."

Answer:
"Our GUI is more complex than our competitor's because our solution is much more robust. I think you'll find that when you calculate the OVERALL total usage time of our solution that it is much less because we process & verify XYZ data much faster."

Best of luck to you.

[pshreck]

[ QUOTE ]
Okay, here is a brief two cents.

[/ QUOTE ]

You goddamned liar.

[EliteNinja]

We're in the same boat, ceyoung.

I'm a metals and materials engineer. Looks like there are jobs, but they're all away from the big cities.

[ceyoung]

thanks for the info. exactly what i wsa looking for

[ceyoung]

[ QUOTE ]
We're in the same boat, ceyoung.

I'm a metals and materials engineer. Looks like there are jobs, but they're all away from the big cities.

[/ QUOTE ]

there are a lot of jobs for materials engineers in san jose. have you looked there? intel and the rest of them seem to be hiring. but yeah, other than san jose the jobs are in undesirable locations.

[mikeyKay]

i havent been in the work force for very long, but i am a software/computer engineer, and our sales engineers have to do lots of traveling. since you are younger it prolly doesnt matter much to you, but as you get older you might want to take that into account. good luck with the job search.

-mike

[ceyoung]

[ QUOTE ]
i havent been in the work force for very long, but i am a software/computer engineer, and our sales engineers have to do lots of traveling. since you are younger it prolly doesnt matter much to you, but as you get older you might want to take that into account. good luck with the job search.

-mike

[/ QUOTE ]

yah im still young with no kids or wife, so i was kinda looking at the travel as a positive.